Fire and Ice

Because the weather is so nice and my hayfever so bad, I’ve had to stay inside a lot more than I would like to. It is terribly frustrating to look out the window into a sunny, warm day that I can’t enjoy but at least it’s given me a chance to catch up on my reading. I just finished a great book called Walt Disney and the Quest for Community and I really enjoyed it. It is a quasi-academic look at the various influences that Walt Disney had when he came up with his concept for EPCOT (the city, not the park). Because Walt died before the ideas were fully developed, the book also speculates the direction those plans were headed and the possible issues that would arise. It really was a fascinating book – and as a special bonus, it even mentions my town of Milton Keynes. Not many other Disney books specifically mention the place where I live! As soon as I finished that I picked up another fascinating Disney read, this one’s called Realityland and it’s a behind the scenes look at how Walt Di...

A year ago I was logging 50k a week, running between 4 and 5 times a week. I was doing tempo runs, long runs and even some speed training. I was roughly at the halfway mark for my marathon training so the distance hadn’t increased a lot yet, I was just doing a lot of running, a lot of the time. This year? I haven’t been out in nearly 3 weeks. Not even for a 1k walk down the street, let alone an 8k tempo run as I was doing. Why? Well, mainly because I am not training for any big races any more, so the motivation to train is not as strong as it was. Also, other things have taken priority so the time isn’t always there and also, I’ve changed my routine. I actually think that this last factor is the most important one. When I was training, my routine was to get out there and run either at lunchtime or after work when possible – no questions asked. I missed a few days here and there but for the most part I didn’t have to think, I just changed and went. That routine has now been lost and the...

I've been tagged! I thought this was a pretty interesting one so I've had a go... Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial You CAN NOT use your name for the boy/girl name question. Send it on to 3 other people for them to put it in their blogs. Tag you're it! WHAT IS YOUR NAME? Claudia Four- (4)-LETTER words: cars, coal, cane, city VEHICLE: Canyonero! (from The Simpsons) TV SHOW: CSI CITY : Coventry , Cairo , BOY Name: Carl GIRL Name: Cecilia OCCUPATION: Car salesman, city planner, congressman SOMETHING YOU WEAR: coat FOOD: corn chowder SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: conditioner SONG TITLE: Could it be magic? SPORTS TEAM: Chicago Cubs! If you read this, consider yourself tagged and have a go!

I was one of the lucky ones – I grew up in a place where it was warm and sunny most of the time, sometimes very hot and rarely uncomfortably cold. During the summer the sun would actually be out all the time, we could count on dry days and the weather was basically never an issue. As you know I moved to the UK a few years ago and basically this is a country that has never really embraced me. From the dismal weather to the uninspired food to the cultural shock, it hasn’t been very easy to love the place. The biggest issue for me is the weather – as I see it it’s 11 months of waiting for summer and one month of huge disappointment, with a few rare sunny days overall. It’s very frustrating. What’s the worst part? When the sun DOES come out and the weather is pleasant I just want to run outside and spend as much time as possible enjoying the sun, the warmth, the lovely feeling of not being cold… but I can’t. The final insult in this sorry saga is that in the UK I have also develo...

I came back from Scrap-a-ganza Holland with around 10kg worth of new stash – and I consider myself a restrained scrapper. The bulk of the new stuff came from class kits. They were pretty generous (some more than others) but honestly, I can’t complain. In most kits not only did I get enough to complete the project but also enough to do a few more layouts or at least enough to embellish a fair few extra layouts. Everything in the photo below either came from a kit or was part of my welcome present (including that lovely tote in the back!) The hotel was a different one than the one SAG used previously and it was very, very nice. My room was simply enormous, the bed very comfortable and the bathroom very spacious. No complaints there. The hotel facilities were very nice too and I even had the chance to use the pool. The hotel itself is pretty huge and I kept exploring it to find new nooks and crannies. It was all very modern and posh. The corridors were full of light: It was located a bi...

When we went to Croatia I made sure I took my running shoes as I've grown to really like my runs in other places. Not only does it make me feel virtuous and healthy, it is also a great way to enjoy a few quiet moments enjoying the new surroundings. So I made time to fit in a short and scenic run while I was over there. The run started a little boringly by just running along a road but it was downhill and you could see the ocean in the distance! The road soon turned and I ran alongside this luxurious private villa. It didn't appear to have any guests, which is a shame as it has some gorgeous views on a beautiful day like today. This is the main path I was running on - on the left I had a lot of mountain and on the right a sheer drop into the clear blue sea below. Can you tell that it's a little hilly? Another view of the scenic path, with the Lapad in the distance. Although it was warm this section of the run was quite shady and with a cool breeze so very pleasant. It wasn...